A six year old with a six pack

What amazed most so far is how young the fighters are. I was watching a few kids train and practicing clinch and although I knew theoretically they start at an early age seeing it so close gave me shivers. One if the trainers’ son who is about 6 years old not only has incredible technique and stamina, he also has a 6 pack. I am not exaggerating one bit. And I realized that growing up in Romania was not as bad as I thought; not to mention how privileged I feel to be living in New York. Thai fighters compete because they have no choice. The 6 year old fighter is the provider for his family and the training he goes through is grueling. The training I have been through so far seems grueling and I have some work to do to get at that level. The Thai trainers don’t care much about the foreigners (“farang”) because they don’t understand their motivation to fight. So, I am even more of a shock for them, being a woman and having a certain age and a certain look. And being the only woman training at the camp is really not an easy position to be in. I realize now how lucky I have been to be part of Team Ardon Sweet Science and have the guys there for me supporting me, respecting and accepting me as one of their own.

The trainer who seemed to care just a little bit more than the others was Rambo. He waved at me to get in the ring the other day and I was nervous but excited at the same time. Rambo is a short chubby guy who laughs happily every time he catches me with a punch or kick. For our first training session Rambo laughed a lot. He can’t remember my name. He calls me “miss” or “lady” and he is really tough on me but fun to train with. And so it seems that I found my trainer and luckily he has a name to remember. Today’s morning session was brutal. I woke up at 5:45am. After a 20min warm up on the treadmill, I was called by Rambo in the ring and went for 3 rounds (each 4 minutes). The rounds with Rambo seem longer than 4 minutes (also because he wasn’t always respecting the 1 minute of break I had either)…I felt like Sisyphus and I tried hard to accept my predicament. Those rounds were followed by rounds on the bag kneeing and kicking hundreds of times and than sit-ups. I finished the session with a 10min round of clinching with one of the young kids who was effortless in everything he was doing. A few hours later I was back in the ring with Rambo for more rounds. This time Rambo made me work harder and the more tired I was getting the more fun he seemed to be having.